


So anyway.

by brightblackbird



Category: Rookies - Morita Masanori & Related Fandoms
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Canon - Manga, Hiratsuka's Issues, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Second Person, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 06:19:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7965835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightblackbird/pseuds/brightblackbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Playing to the crowd means giving them your own undivided attention, so naturally it's easiest with an audience of one.</p>
<p>(Or, the difference between drawing attention and chasing desperately after it continues to escape Hiratsuka, but that's all right.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	So anyway.

The only thing that really stands out about Imaoka is how it's maybe kind of a little impressive how he doesn't find you intimidating. What with how awe-inspiring you are and all. But the flip side of that is that he's a real pigheaded asshole who never sees the right side of _anything_. And it takes a long, long while before you finally figure out how to get him to shut up and listen to reason, on the subject of all the dumbass decisions he makes, such as being all the way on the other side of the couch and looking at the TV instead of at you.

He says sometimes you're like a magnet, and you don't know if he means he's metal, or a different kind of magnet, or the same kind, or which kind of goddamn magnets even stick together. And you'll be damned if you ask him when he thinks he's being all smart with his stupid metaphor shit. But anyway you kind of get it and basically it means he's supposed to be hanging onto you.

Even though actually when you think about it he should be the magnet because you're obviously solid gold. And gold doesn't stick to his dumb ass unless he's the magnet. So he's _gotta_ be the magnet, which makes it his fault you went and got stuck to him, and here he is watching a movie while you wither away and _die_ from being ignored.

So anyway, clearly it falls on you to remind him what his priorities should be.

The start of a thought starts to nag at you while you're kissing his stupid nose, but it's not until you've moved on to the eyelids that you realize he's gotten pretty good at shutting you up too. But it turns out you can make a pretty good argument without opening your mouth, and he gets what you mean no matter how you tell him, so just as long as he tilts his head back when you're ready to move down to the neck, and does that thing where he crooks a leg around you and rubs your ass thoughtfully with his foot, just the one—well, it doesn't even matter if he's technically not being that quiet.

Not like you ever get what the hell he means, exactly, with all those weird-ass noises, but when he wants you to get it, he tells you. And he knows you need attention without you having to talk just like you can see the stars in his eyes even when he closes them and _sighs_ (man, how'd you ever miss those for so long)—so anyway, it's not like you were fighting exactly in the first place.

***

Hiracchi doesn't ever say he loves you or he needs you, but you know how to listen. It's not out loud but in the warm closeness of his body; that needy, insistent tension in his movement that means he's busy convincing himself he's unhappy and neglected. It goes just a little bit beyond how sulky he gets when he really feels ignored, and it means he's feeling something he can't say. Not even thinking it, exactly; it's an instinct more than a conscious thought with him, something that keeps the two of you close, him next to what he needs like a beast that craves raw meat when its body runs low on iron.

He's thoughtless and selfish and that's why, without thinking, he sticks close to what he wants. The one who knows everything he really is underneath everything he wants to believe he is, the only one who wants to understand him and the only one he'll let understand him, because Imaoka loves the Hiratsuka that's underneath, which is why you remind him who he is when he tries to fool himself.

Everyone can see who he really is, of course. He's the only one you're talking to when you remind him. But he likes to think it's just you who notices.

***

(And as annoying as that is when you want to be everything you're not, you'd know—if you took the time to change feelings into thoughts—that every time you fail at being more than you could possibly be, there's one place where you were always _you_ and it was okay, and it's Imaoka, so you go back to him.

Because if— _if—_ you weren't quite as astoundingly awesome as everybody knows you are, in some weirdo alternate universe, maybe—well anyway, _if_ that was true, it'd be nice if someone still wanted to be with you.)

***

So you let him nose into you like he's demanding affection instead of trying to share it; he can't keep the lie going for long without talking. You lie back and enjoy the kisses, because that's all he can do right now, and let him remember he doesn't have to prove anything, you're always here when he wants to feel like himself. When he lets you start touching back you nudge at him gently, pushing very slightly and rubbing his shoulders until he eases you up on his lap, where he wanted you to begin with. One arm around his neck, tugging just a little at the sleeve to watch it slide over his arm, you feel his shoulders relax as he remembers there's nothing on earth that could make you ignore him.

And that it's okay to want you in his lap even if he's not proving a point.

***

So anyway once you've established you're _definitely_  more interesting than the stupid movie, and you get him pulled up in your lap, and he still wants to be all snuggled into your chest, playing with your shirt and the hand you've got slipped under his, feeling him up—well, fine then.

You're not sure if it counts as winning when you're both getting exactly what you want, but it's hard to feel like you lost with him settled in like that, stroking your hand. You're in a generous mood. The movie's not that bad either, just so long as it knows its place and doesn't try to outshine you.

It might be a different movie, actually. The first one ended while you were busy explaining things to him. Must've known it couldn't compete with you. Doesn't matter much to you, though. And it shouldn't matter to him, not if he's got an ounce of sense in his fat head.

***

Which you don't. Not when it comes to him. But the movie doesn't matter.

***

_(So anyway.)_


End file.
